Described as a global hackathon, OSCEdays focuses on open source software and hardware ideas, prototype design, organizational strategies, educational solutions, making, hacking, and more. As the website states, “We emphasise hands-on action rather than a traditional conference with presentations. Local groups work on local challenges to experiment with new perspectives in workshops, stimulating open questions.”

Beyond this focus, local organizers are free to structure events as they choose. Suggested participants include social, ecological or economic entrepreneurs, universities, waste and recycling representatives, open source enthusiasts, sustainability initiatives, open data experts, etc. The idea is to bring people together to work on real challenges and explore paths toward an open source circular economy.

“Let [participants] share their projects, questions, ideas and expertise,” reads the website. “Invite them to rethink and reinvent existing initiatives with open source methodology, to build new alliances and to prototype and document their ideas.”

During the event, the OSCEdays Platform will enable participants around the world to share challenges, questions, ideas, documentation and skills. There will be a global video conference system for real-time collaboration between the cities, and participants will be connected to an “international network of experts and activists and participating in an open flow of accessible ideas and solutions.”